Rocks
by Birai
Summary: "I thought you liked Halloween!" "I like the concept of halloween," Bakura corrected Ryou testily.


**A/N: This was originally meant to be a filler chapter in my longer story, but since so many people seem to like it, I'll keep it separate.  
**

"This is stupid."

"No it's not!"

"It is."

"I thought you liked Halloween!"

"I like the _concept_ of Halloween," Bakura corrected Ryou testily. Ryou was putting the final touches on his costume while Bakura was standing outside the bedroom distracting him. "Large amounts of candy, okay. Going out after dark to receive said candy, also okay. Watching movies involving gratuitous amounts of blood and a masked serial killer, _very_ okay. But at dressing up and going to a party, I draw the line."

"Oh, come on, we're going trick or treating tomorrow." Ryou emerged from the bedroom adjusting the sleeves of his robe. "Just this once? If you don't like it, you don't have to go next year."

"I don't see why I have to go this year, either" Bakura pouted.

"Normally I wouldn't make you, but the theme is matching costumes, so I had to bring a partner. How do I look?" Ryou was dressed in a flowy red and white outfit, with a yellow sash around the middle and an unidentifiable mass of fluff draped over one shoulder. A few minutes ago, he'd gotten Bakura to paint a crescent moon on his forehead and a set of stripes over his cheeks.

"Like an anime character. How about me?" Bakura's costume was much simpler, with a baggy red robe and pointy fake dog ears.

Ryou sighed. "You didn't put on the nails, or the fangs..."

"They're only going to come off halfway through."

"I'll let the nails slip, but it's not Inuyasha without fangs!"

"Fine then, Sissy-marou." Bakura stuck out his tongue, but took the fake fangs from Ryou anyway, glancing at the directions before retreating to the bathroom. The phone echoed out of the kitchen, and Ryou grabbed a handful of candy corn from a bowl on the counter on his way to pick it up.

"Hello?" (munch) "Oh, hay. Mmm, yah, e'sh jus' pu'ing on hish fanksh." (swallow) "I said he's just putting on his fangs. Well, you'll have to find out in a few minutes. Bye, Yugi!"

"I mean, I might even be okay with it if it were at _anyone else's_ house," Bakura griped.

"That means we have to throw the next party, then," Ryou said innocently. Bakura paled.

"Uhh, no, no I'm fine without that!"

"Thought so."

Night was falling as they walked to Yugi's house, the chill October air around them creeping in at the edges of their costumes. The streetlights gave both sidewalk and houses an odd looming look, as if the entire street would just collapse in on itself. A stiff wind blew dust and fallen leaves around in little tornadoes, one of them barely brushing past Ryou.

"Nice out, isn't it?" Bakura said mildly.

"Sometimes I honestly can't tell if you're being sarcastic." Ryou shivered violently, and Bakura sighed. He pulled off the outermost layer of his costume, revealing the circle of scars that both he and Ryou had on their chests.

"Here."

"Oh, don't, you're wearing way less than I am," Ryou protested faintly as Bakura tucked the robe around his shoulders. Ryou smiled. "Thanks."

"We never had this holiday," Bakura said quietly.

"What?"

"When I was your age. Halloween didn't exist."

"It's kind of funny to think of stuff like that," Ryou smiled. "I guess in the future they won't have Halloween. Wasn't there a holiday you celebrated back then?"

Bakura thought for a second. "There was _one_. It was a bit like your Halloween, I suppose. People would wander around in the night, carrying torches, and you could jump out and try to scare them. If you made them scream, they had to give you something, but if not, you had to give _them_ something." He paused, watching a black cat cross the street to sit under a streetlight. "'Course, we didn't have candy back then, either, so we carried around rocks."

"That sounds... Fun." Ryou tried to sound impressed, but Bakura just rolled his eyes.

"It was a stupid thing we did as kids because we liked to jump out of the darkness and scare one another. I don't even know if anyone except my village did it, and I certainly don't know why _we_ did."

"Still, it kind of captures the essence of Halloween," Ryou said optimistically. "Everyone likes to be scared once in a while."

Bakura had been walking slightly in front of Ryou, and turned back with an evil smile. His fake canines jutted over his lips, glistening pearl white. "Do you like to be _scared_, Ryou?"

Ryou flinched, slowing to a halt. "S-stop it."

"Will you give me something if I scare you enough, I wonder?" Bakura took a step forward, pale as a ghost in the sparing moonlight.

"I said stop it!"

"You know, I heard that people go _missing_ on nights like this. It would happen once in a while in my time, too. All you would find is blood, _so_ much blood, leading off into the desert. If you followed the blood, you'd find a person lying there, and do you know what they would say, right before they died?"

Ryou cringed as a car drove past, framing Bakura's silhouette in brilliant white light.

"_You're next!"_

Ryou sprinted past Bakura, running all the way to Yugi's house. He didn't stop until he was inside the game shop, slamming the door behind him. Yugi (dressed as a Luxray) looked up from the snack table eagerly, brightening for a moment before seeing Ryou's expression.

"Hey, you made- What's wrong?" he asked urgently.

"N-nothing," Ryou stammered, catching his breath and nodding uncertainly. "I... I think I'm going to be alone here tonight."

Outside, Bakura stood in front of the game shop indifferently. The cat from before had followed him, and meowed loudly. With a heavy sigh, he sat down on the pavement and pulled it onto his lap, stroking it between the ears. "What do you think, then?"

The cat stared at him with wide eyes. It flicked its ears and crawled out of his lap, jumping into the shadows again.

"Well, if you say so."

The door opened with a small jingle, and Bakura scanned the room for his costumed counterpart. Yugi gave him a grim look and turned back to Téa.

"Nice to see you, too," Bakura muttered. He walked up to Yugi and tapped him on the shoulder. "Hey, tell me where Ryou went."

Bakura was suddenly tackled from the side and pinned to a wall by Ryou's thin, bony hands. Ryou's face was twisted into a horridly feral snarl, made all the worse by the pointed canines that he himself had put in earlier. He scowled at Bakura, taking a deep breath in.

"**RRRAAAAAAARGH!"** he roared at the top of his lungs. After a second, he smiled angelically. "Boo."

Bakura reached over to the snack table and handed him a mini snickers bar. It wasn't exactly a rock, but it's the thought that counts.


End file.
